The Governor's Mansion

Duane's take

Now, this one comes straight from the official marker — let me tell it to you the way it deserves to be told. Somewhere in Austin, there is a house that has outlasted republics, wars, and more than a few governors who thought they were bigger than the office. The Governor's Mansion.

Official residence of the governor of Texas — and by law, every chief executive must live there during their term. Not a suggestion. The law says so.

You sleep under that roof, or you answer for it. Before this building went up in 1855 and 1856, the only official executive home was a rough, two-story frame structure called the President's House, standing at what is now Seventh and San Jacinto streets. Rough.

That's the word the marker uses, and I believe it. The man who first moved into the new mansion was Governor Elisha M. Pease — and it was Pease himself who selected both the site and the design.

A pioneer architect-contractor by the name of Abner Cook supervised the construction. Greek Revival style. Stately, the marker calls it, and when you see those six massive pillars out front, you understand why.

Those pillars are no ordinary columns — they were hauled as huge pine logs all the way from Bastrop, then adzed by hand into shape, topped with Ionic capitals. The bricks that hold the whole thing together were made right there in Austin. Now here is something worth sitting with for a moment.

That building was standing some thirty years before the pink granite capitol rose up nearby. Thirty years. Governors were making decisions of statewide import inside those walls while the capitol was still just an idea somebody hadn't gotten around to yet.

And some of those decisions — well. In 1861, Governor Sam Houston stood inside that mansion and decided he would not support the Confederacy. Inside those walls.

That is the kind of moment that echoes. Then there is the other story. Every grand old house eventually gets one, and the Mansion is no exception.

Like numerous nineteenth-century houses, it acquired a ghost story — and this one has a name attached to it. The nephew of Governor Pendleton Murrah, who served from 1863 to 1865, committed suicide there within those walls. The marker doesn't linger on it, and neither will I.

But the ghost, apparently, did. Distinguished visitors have walked through that place over the years — United States Presidents, heads of state from other countries. Names the marker doesn't give us, because the point isn't the guest list.

The point is the house itself. More than perhaps any other residence in Texas, the marker says, the Governor's Mansion is a repository of Texas history. That's not puffery.

That's just the arithmetic of everything that happened inside one set of walls — the decisions, the grief, the power, the pine logs dragged out of Bastrop and shaped by hand into something meant to last. And it has.

What the marker says

Official residence of the Governor of Texas. By law, each chief executive must live here during his term of office. Before the erection of this building in 1855-1856, the only official executive home had been the rough, two-story frame "President's House" at present Seventh and San Jacinto streets. Within these walls, many decisions of statewide import have taken place. Here in 1861, Gov. Sam Houston decided not to support the Confederacy. Also, like numerous 19th-century houses, the mansion acquired a ghost story after the nephew of Gov. Pendleton Murrah (1863-1865) committed suicide here. Built some thirty years before the pink granite capitol, this structure was first occupied by Gov. Elisha M. Pease, who selected the site and design. Pioneer architect-contractor Abner Cook supervised the construction of the stately residence, in Greek Revival style. Austin-made bricks were used, and huge pine logs were hauled from Bastrop, then adzed to form the six massive pillars with Ionic capitals. Distinguished visitors have included U.S. Presidents and heads of state from other countries. More than perhaps any other residence in Texas, the Governor's Mansion is a repository of Texas history. (1969) (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962)